Benders of Our Lives
by irohsteashoppegirls
Summary: What is the Bei Fong family secret? Why is there a baby boom in the South Pole? Who is that manly woman? And who wants to buy a cabbage?[crackfic]
1. Chapter 1

**Benders of Our Lives:**_ The Frozen Airbender_

By: Iroh's Tea Shoppe Girls

Disclaimer: We do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, thank Agni. Happy New Years!

Lao hated the endless war. Lao did not like how his wife looked at their child's new tutor. Lao did not like how his only daughter constantly talked back. Lao did not like how his fortune was based off of his father's morally questionable business. Lao did not like a lot of things, but there was one thing Lao did like, and that was li lou (a fermented milk-wine) in his morning tea.

But they were out. Only a few drops came out of the skin it was kept in. the barrel was dry too.

Lao was not very happy. He called for the cook in a loud irate voice, demanding to know why they were out.

The servant began to explain that they had ordered a barrel yesterday, and that they normally didn't go through this much, but Lao would have none of such weak excuses. He stormed out to go to the local tavern, a seedy joint, but at least they bothered to keep their shelves full.

A tall, thick, ugly woman seated him.

"My name is Xu Ren, I'll be your waitress," the woman said in an unnaturally deep voice, her large hand brushing aside some dark hair that had fallen into her face.

"I'll have some tea with li lou," Lao said, winching that the woman's stern expression.

-.-.-.-.-

Kanna had waited until her grandchildren went fishing before she went to the village healer. She had been tired and not feeling well. She didn't think much of it, but wanted to make sure it wasn't anything serious.

The healer looked at the elderly woman with concerned glance. She didn't quite know what to say.

"It's just my age catching up with me isn't it?" Kanna said smiling. "After all, I'm so old my grandkids are almost adults. I've seen many moons."

"I don't know how to tell you think," the healer said slowly. "It's not just your age."

"It's the wasting sickness isn't it?" Gran Gran asked, it was what she had been afraid of.

The healer slowly nodded. "You should've come to me sooner, I could've done something."

"How much time do I have?" the elderly woman asked.

"About six moons."

-.-.-.-.-

"I want to learn more advanced moves Uncle," the young prince said. He was tired of doing the same basic drills over and over.

"You are not ready yet," Iroh said calmly. "Maybe if you wore the clothes I set out for you?"

"I do not want to wear his clothing," Zuko said. Iroh had set out Lu Ten's old training clothes for him. His cousin had been dead for years.

"Then you're not ready to learn advanced moves," the old man said. "Which is really too bad, Lu Ten was such a good firebender."

-.-.-.-.-

Their fishing trip was turning out to be a disaster, their canoe had been destroyed. Sokka had pushed Katara too far causing her to lose her temper. While that ordinarily was merely unpleasant, this time it was scary. The iceberg split, pieces off it falling. Katara and Sokka pulled together, to avoid the larger pieces.

It was over, they were safe. Sokka was not amused though, "Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara."

"You mean I did that?" Katara asked, amazed at the possibility.

"Yup," Sokka said deadpan. "Congratulations."

The water in front of them began to glow; the siblings began to paddle backwards on their raft. Another iceberg came to the surface, and a boy with a glowing arrow on his head can be seen in it.

"He's alive!" Katara announced, after studying it. "We have to help him."

She grabbed her brother's club and went to the frozen boy.

"Katara!" Sokka called after his sister. "Get back her! We don't know what that thing is!"

Katara began to try to chip away at the iceberg when it erupts into light, Sokka shielded his sister as the boy emerged from the iceberg.


	2. Chapter 2

**Benders of Our Lives **

_Chapter 2_

by: Iroh's Tea Shoppe Girls

Disclaimer: The Dai Li is watching to make sure that we say that we don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Aang opened his eyes after what felt like a couple days. He saw a beautiful Water Tribe girl. Aang smiled. He asked her, with a sleepy look in his eyes, "Where am I?"

"You were frozen in that iceberg," said Katara, pointing to the massive ice structure, "How did you get in there?"

Aang turn around and saw the big piece of ice he and Appa was frozen in. He shrugged and tried to cuddle closer to Katara, "No clue, perhaps I would remember after I get over this major brain freeze."

Katara laughed at Aang's jokes. Sokka pulled Katara aside.

"I think we should put him back," Sokka said, uncharacteristically cold to the young boy. "There might be a reason why he was in that ice. I don't know if we can trust him he could have been causing trouble for us and put there by a waterbender."

"Wow, that the first time you used the word 'bending' instead of 'magic,'" Katara noted, smiling at her brother. Looking at Aang she continued. "But we can't leave him here, he'd freeze to death."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Lao did put a limit on the amount of li lou he drinks before returning back home. He knew he was at that limit when he found himself some what attracted to the ugliest woman in the tavern. This time it was the hostess, Xu Ren. Things were not going so well for him. He had probably consumed four times the amount he usually did, but she was still was as ugly of a woman as he had ever seen.

Xu Ren noticed Lao Bei Fong staring at her; she wondered if Lao knew who she was. Another hostess came over to Xu Ren and tapped her on the shoulder, and whispered. "I got 'Mr. Stingy Prick' again! He buys the cheapest tea and doesn't tip! I can't deal with his crap."

Xu Ren didn't really care about the other girls' problem rolling her eyes, she advised, "Just split in his tea, and you will feel better."

"I can't do that!" the girl said wearing an indignant expression, "It's cruel. You know he is a well respected man."

"Pansy, I'll do it then!" Xu Ren said, smiling mockingly as she spat into the tea pot.

She watched the other's girls face make a horrified expression as she went out and set the tea pot at Master Yu's table. She made a point to smile nicely at Master Yu and poured him a cup.

"Delicious!" Master Yu said, despite his normal curmudgeonly attitude toward tea.

Lao began to complain loudly to the other hostess, and began to make a scene. The hostess in a weak voice suggested that he keep his voice down and that he had had enough to drink.

Xu Ren called the other girl over into the back room. "Look, he pays his bills and tips well. Let him drink as much as he wants to! He's Lao BEI FONG!"

"But he's very drunk," the girl said, wearing a concerned expression. "It's not good business to let customers destroy themselves."

The argument quickly resolved itself when a thud was heard from the dining area, and a Lao Bei Fong found in a drunken stupor on the floor unable to pick himself back up or walk.

"Okay, maybe you have a point," Xu Ren admitted.

"You have to deal with him," the other hostess said frowning. "He's your mess."

Xu Ren sighed and picked the man up and put him over her broad shoulder. "I'm going to take him home, watch the shop."

"Oh miss!" Master Yu called out after Xu Ren as she was leaving, much to his annoyance the other hostess responded.

"Yes, can I help you with anything sir?" she asked in a cheerful voice.

"I suppose," Master Yu grumbled. He took out his purse, plucking out a small coin. "This is for the tea."

The hostess tried not to roll her eyes, but couldn't help herself.

Master Yu dug deeper into his coin purse and pulled out a bigger coin. "And this is for the hostess who brought me the tea. I would like to know her name."

The girl snapped to attention. That coin was more valuable than the coin he paid for the tea with. He had never even tipped before. "Xu Ren."

"Xu Ren?" Master Yu repeated, a smile creeping across his face. "Excellent."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"So," Sokka began while glaring at Aang. The trio was walking back to the village. "You're an airbender, right?"

"Yup!" Aang chirped happily, bending a little to give himself a little extra spring in his step.

"I thought all the airbenders were dead," the young warrior commented.

"Dead?" Aang asked, his feet flat on the ground. "You're joking right?"

"You didn't now?" Katara asked; a concerned look on her face. "It was a hundred years ago."

"Yeah," Sokka said, continuing his story. "And they say that the Avatar was an airbender at that time. I wonder if he died to, although if a little kid like you survived, I'm sure he did too."

"Yeah," Aang said with a nervous chuckle. "I'm sure he survived too."

"Anyway this is our village," Katara said happily, the villagers began coming out of their huts at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. "It's mostly us women and children; the men went off to war a few years back."

"Uh, Katara," Aang asked hesitantly. "If all the men left a few years ago, why are there so many babies?"

Katara rolled her eyes and motioned over to Sokka who was busy commanding the toddlers in the art of warfare.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Cabbages! Get your fresh cabbages!" the cabbage merchant shouted in the streets of Omashu.

Sadly it seemed that no one wanted to buy cabbages. The merchant sighed, and picked up one, and held it in his hand. "It's a pity how people rely on you but never appreciate you. I understand you."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Zuko was practicing basic firebending drills when his uncle approached him.

"Nephew," the retired general said. "We seem to have a problem."

"Uncle, being out of tea is not my problem," Zuko snapped. "It's not necessary to find the Avatar."

Zuko frowned at his uncle every time the old man brought up the supply of tea. Iroh had been mentioning it since their last stop for supplies.

"It's not just that," Iroh stated. "While that is important. Some of the crew are getting ill because of the weather. It's too cold down here at the South Pole. We need to get some blankets and medicine for our men. Without the crew to run this ship it will be very difficult to capture the Avatar."

"Where are we supposed to get supplies in this area?" Zuko asked in a harsh tone.

"I must be hallucinating!" said Lieutenant Gee, as he stumbled onto the deck, huddled in a blanket. "I think I see smoke –like clouds."

Zuko looked through the telescope and saw a small village in the distance. "Captain, full steam ahead! We are going to raid that village for supplies."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

_Xu Ren, what a wonderful name … well for a woman of her type. It tells me everything about her. Well at least the fact that she needs a man_, Master Yu thought giggling to himself while returning to the academy.

Many of Master Yu's students gave him strange looks that day, as he was uncharacteristically cheerful and benevolent. He even complimented a student once. The other students weren't quite sure what to make of it.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Aang went to bed early that night, just after supper.

"Considering he's been in that iceberg 100 years," Sokka grumbled. "You'd think he would have gotten enough sleep for a lifetime."

Sokka muttered to himself, "Why am I so concerning about him? It's probably better that he sleeps. He seemed to distract my students"

"You never know why people need rest," Gran Gran offered diplomatically as an explination. "I myself need some – be good my dears."

"Aang, seems rather nice," Katara said with a shy smile. "I like him a lot."

Sokka's jaw dropped, and his brow furrowed. Immediately he spat "We hardly know him! I know for a fact that different types of benders don't mix well."

"Hey guys!" a familiar cheerful voice rang. Apparently Aang had only been napping. "What's up?"

"Nothing!" Sokka said irately.

"Actually, ME!" the little air nomad said as he bended air to momentarily hover, which caused Katara to smile and giggle. The children of the village also delighted in the spectacle which was airbending-Aang.

"HAHA, very funny." Sokka snapped sarcastically, a frown gracing his face.

Just then the ground shook. A large metal ship had ported just outside the village. A young man wearing a helmet a couple sizes too big disembarked followed by a half dozen armed soldiers. They were from the Fire Nation.

"As if things couldn't get worse," Sokka grumbled to himself. "Now the Fire Nation here."

Zuko walked into the village adjusting the helmet to get it out of his eyes, frowning. It had been Luten's.

"Give us blankets, and medicine and we wouldn't destroy this sad excuse for a village!" Zuko demanded.

"Um, Prince Zuko," a soldier said quietly. "Your uncle will be disappointed if we don't bring back tea."

"What!" Zuko hissed. "Are you doing trying to make me look like a fool?"

"It's just tea, sir," the soldier said meekly. "Your Uncle wanted tea."

"Oh great!" Sokka grumbled, observing the interactions. "Now we've got multiple air-heads in our village!"

Zuko turned and looked at the sarcastic Water Tribe warrior.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Halt," the guard said, as he saw an ugly woman approach carrying his employer.

"I think he belongs here," the woman said in an unnaturally deep voice.

"Master Lao Bei Fong?!" the guard said his eyes wide. Turning to the broad-shouldered woman he demanded, "What did you do to him?!"

"Nothing," Xu Ren said. "He did it to himself. Here, take him."

The guard put his arms out, and took his employer from the ugly woman, who had larger arms than he did.


	4. Chapter 4

Benders of Our Lives

Chapter 4:

By: Iroh's Tea Shoppe Girls

Disclaimer: We do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, otherwise Lady Bei Fong would've had more than three lines.

At the Bei Fong estate the guard carried his passed out employer to his bedroom. The whole situation irked him. He decided that Lady Bei Fong should know of this. After inquiring about the mistress's whereabouts he went to Toph's practice room. Lady Bei Fong was watching her daughter's earthbending instruction. Or more accurately, she was watching her daughter's earthbending instructor.

"There something important I need to discuss with you, madam," the guard said.

Lady Bei Fong asked him, "What is so important?"

Guard looked down and quietly said, "Perhaps it's wise us to discuss this matter somewhere else."

The guard didn't want Toph to know what had happened; she was still only an innocent child after all.

Lady Bei Fong left the room with the guard, leaving Toph and her instructor to practice their breathing exercises.

"I think your husband has been up to no good with," the guard began trying to think of how to describe Xu Ren. "A woman-like thing."

"What kind of no good?" Lady Bei Fong asked. "And what is 'a woman-like thing'?"

"Well, this person brought Lao back here," the guard said hesitantly. "And he had had too much to drink. The person, I think umm she might have done something with him."

"You mean she might be his mistress?" Lady Bei Fong asked. She had suspected that he might have had a few mistresses, over the years, especially since he frequented taverns.

"Yes, madam," the guard said with a frown. "I thought you should know."

"This woman, what was she like?" Lady Bei Fong asked.

"Well," the guard said unsure of how to describe Xu Ren. "She was tall, had large muscles, black hair, wide shoulders, and a stern expression."

Lady Bei Fong frowned. She wished her husband had enough respect for her to only cheat on her with a more attractive woman.

Lady Bei Fong was angry that Lao's drinking problem was getting worse and worse. She figured that the woman who hit on him probably did so because he looked weak. She had to do something about it, it would not due to have her husband the subject of unfavorable gossip.

The last straw was when one of his mistresses dropped him off. She didn't want her precious child seeing her father in that way.

Lady Bei Fong headed to the kitchen and told the servants to get rid of all of the alcoholic beverages in the house.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Business was finally picking up for the cabbage merchant. He decided that Omashu was a nice city, once you got used to the people in it, and the crazy way things were transported. The city had its charm, the cabbage merchant decided to call it "home" for the time being.

That was the secret to all things, the cabbage merchant thought with a smile, persistence. All things will come to be and pass if you give it enough time and effort.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Zuko looked down at the young warrior who dared to oppose him. To his surprise the warrior didn't look much older than himself. The young man had a muscular physique, a determined expression, and daring war-paint on his face. But it was the young warrior's bravery that took Zuko's breath away. Zuko quickly put those thoughts aside to focus on the matter, he'd return to them later when he had time to mull them over.

"How dare you speak of me in such a manner!" Zuko yelled at Sokka.

"Get out of my village," Sokka shouted back and threw his boomerang at Zuko. It hit Zuko head and the oversized helmet fell.

Sokka started to laugh.

Even though Zuko admired the young warrior, he wouldn't let that slide. Prince Zuko shot a fireball at Sokka. Aang, who had been hiding up until that point intervened, deflecting the fireball with an airblast.

Zuko smiled; glad the Avatar was flushed into the open. "The Avatar! So we meet at last."


	5. Chapter 5

Benders of Our Lives: Chapter 5

By Iroh's Tea Shoppe Girls

Disclaimer: We don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender yet.

"Nephew, wake up," Iroh said nudging Zuko. "We are almost at the port, you should get ready."

"Do I have to go with you to get tea, uncle?" Zuko asked groaning.

"It's not about tea this time," Iroh said with an impish grin.  
"Well, not entirely about tea anyway. We're going to have some repairs done on our ship."

Zuko stretched as he remembered the events that caused the ship to be severely damaged. He had captured the Avatar, only to lose him and have him bring an avalanche down on his ship. To add insult to injury Zhao was posted at the port he had to go to for the repairs. Zhao who was the last person in the world he ever wanted to see again.

Zhao was partially responsible for Zuko's banishment. Zhao had approached the lad, offering to be a mentor and lover to him. Zuko had turned him down. Zhao then began to obsess about Zuko and harass the prince on an almost daily basis. It was about that time that Ozai began to look very critically at his first born.

Zuko dressed quickly and hurried off to talk to Lieutenant Gee. He wanted Gee to inform the crew what they could and could not say about the events that transpired at the South Pole. He even had a wonderful cover-story thought up about the captain's poor steering ability.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"We should get going," Katara said, watching the direction Zuko's ship left in. "Before that guy comes back."

Aang, the Avatar, the best hope for world peace, was busy drawing on a map.

"What the heck are you doing?" Sokka asked.

"I'm planning our site-seeing stops on the way to the North Pole,"  
Aang answered innocently with a smile.

"Well. with you being the Avatar and all, I really doubt we have much time for site-seeing," Sokka remarked in a sarcastic tone. "Especially since there have been so many causalities from the war."

Aang frown and realized it would be best for him to keep his plans to himself for now. After all, he was the one steering Appa, and it wasn't like the siblings had traveled the world before. He sighed and asked, "Well, can we visit the place I grew up in?"

"Sure, Aang," Katara said gently with a smile, frowning at her overly sarcastic and negative brother.

"Katara! I thought you were on my side!" Sokka lamented. "I know you really want to learn water bending and these detours are just going to slow that down." 

But Aang and Katara would hear none of it.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Lao woke up the next morning and went to the kitchen and demanded tea with li lou in it.

"Sir, we're out and won't be receiving any more," the cook said sparsely. "The lady of the house requested the removal of all alcohol."

Lao sighed. It was obvious that his family was trying to make him go insane with everything they did and that now they want to take his one way to relax. Lao stormed out of the kitchen got dress and went to the shady bar that keeps plenty of li lou in stock.

One of the guards Lao passed on his way out went to tell Lady Bei Fong. She had told him to tell her when her husband left the house.

Lady Bei Fong thanked the guard, and got dressed incognito to follow her husband and find the bar her husband hanged out in.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"We're here!" Aang exclaimed with a smile as the huge monastery came into view.

"It's beautiful," said Katara breathlessly. She had never seen anything like it before.

Sokka rolled his eyes, "Okay we see it now we can go!"

They landed near the field where Aang used to play and Aang saw the place where he used to play airball.

"Hey, Sokka, how about a match?" Aang asked with a broad grin on his face.

"No! I think we should go," Sokka snapped. "It's almost time to eat, I'm hungry."

Aang frowned and walked towards Appa.

Katara looked concerned and whisper to Sokka, "You know he's the Avatar. He's the one chance we have to get Dad back."

"Alright," Sokka groaned. "Okay let's play the stupid game."

Aang's face lit up like a Christmas tree, "Okay here's how you play: You have to walk on the poles and using airbending get this ball, called an 'airball' through that goal over there."

"Great," Sokka said with sarcasm dripping off his voice. "So when do I officially lose this game so we can get on with that little thing you have to do of saving the world?"


	6. Chapter 6

Benders of Our Lives

Chapter 6

By: Iroh Tea Shoppe Girls

Disclaimer: We still don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, we'll let you know as soon as that changes. ;-)

Sokka impatiently followed Aang as he slowly wandered around the abandoned air temple where he grew up. He was still sore that they hadn't left even after he suffered a humiliating defeat at airball. They arrived at a statue of an older air monk.

"Wow, they built a statue of Monk Gyasto," Aang smiled. "He was my mentor."

"Hey that guy looks a lot like you Aang," Sokka remarked

Katara sighed, and explained using gestures "Well, Sokka most airbenders probably look like Aang with the arrow markings. It's their symbol."

Sokka rebutted saying that it was more than just the tattoo, Katara argued that it's just an artistic representation anyway, and the two began to argue like, well, siblings. Their fighting ended when they heard clinking approaching…. clink, clink clink.

An old fire nation helmet was approaching and then as it got closer it screeched.

"G-G-Ghost!" Sokka screamed. "I knew this place was a bad idea!"

Sokka kicked the helmet and a creature came out of it, one of the most common creatures of the area, a flying lemur.

"Lemur!" Aang cheered happily. While his people may be gone at least life, such as the lemur, still survived in the temple.

"Mmmm, nice fried lemur!" Sokka said drooling and chasing the flying lemur to a fruit-bearing tree.

Katara and Aang followed Sokka and saw the lemur throwing peaches at Sokka. One hit Sokka's head hard and knocked him down. "You'll pay for that lemur!"

Sokka began to get up to look for something to retaliate with, only to have his head start to pound. The young warrior grabbed his throbbing head and said, "You know what? I don't feel too go-"

He hit the ground with a thud. Katara ran over to her brother. With a concerned look on her face she stated, "He's out cold Aang. I think he might be in a coma."

"Wait here with him," Aang said. "I need to go somewhere. Somewhere sacred."

Katara nodded, and put a blanket over her unconscious brother, hoping that he'd wake up soon.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Lady Bei Fong had a bad sense of direction. I took her two hours, but she did eventually find the tavern where her husband was. Immediately she realized who the "woman-like thing" the guard had told her about was. The "woman" was flirting with her child's earthbending instructor. Lady Bei Fong could not hold back a horrible frown. She moved to the corner of the establishment, hoping to not draw attention to herself.

A normal looking waitress came up to her and asked, "Can I help you with anything today, my lady?"

"Well," Lady Bei Fong said not sure how to respond. Suddenly she spotted her husband at the far end of the bar. "What sort of establishments can be found around here?"

"Down the street there is a restaurant that has good chili chicken," the waitress said with a polite smile. "There's an inn next door named Bian Bai, and a lovely little tea shoppe across the way named –"

"Thank you for your help," Lady Bei Fong said shortly interrupting the woman.

Lady Bei Fong sighed. How convenient that an INN was right next door to this shady bar. The bar her husband always went to. Lady Bei Fong was furious. This proved that her husband was unfaithful. She decided it was best to confront him about it at home; she didn't want to slander their family name by making a public spectacle of his weakness.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Whacha selling?" a grumpy overweight overworked woman with five small children in her tow asked.

"Cabbages!" the cabbage merchant said happily. "Fresh green cabbages! Healthy for the little ones to eat."

"How much?" the woman asked, putting one hand on her hip.

The cabbage merchant gave his price, which caused the woman to baulk.

"You have to be kidding me!" the woman exclaimed as she stomped off.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Oh, so it was bad steering from the captain that caused all that damage?" Zhao asked in a mocking tone.

"Yes," Iroh stated bluntly. "You know how my nephew can be when he wants something. He worked the poor captain to the bone. I don't think he had gotten much sleep before that."

"Indeed," Zhao muttered smiling. "Zuko I want to show you something."

Zuko shrugged. He didn't like how friendly Zhao was being, but at least his uncle was with him, so it couldn't be too bad. Or so he thought until Zhao held up a piece of parchment with some figure on it. Zuko couldn't quite make out what it was.

Zhao told Zuko with a smile. "This is the lovely woman who I will marry."

Zuko titled his head to try to see if he could make anything out of it, but sadly it still looked like a blob.

Iroh grabbed the pictured and his eyes widened, "Zhao, I never knew you were into bestiality! She is going to be one happy Platypus-bear."

"She is not a platypus-bear!" Zhao yelled. "Let me get you the picture I used for reference."

Zhao left and returned with several professionally done portraits of Princess Azula.

"Er, I can see you took some artistic liberties," Iroh said diplomatically.

"Yes," Zhao said with a twisted grin. "I removed the clothing."

"You shouldn't be drawing dirty pictures of my niece," Iroh said sharply. "Especially since she is the princess."


	7. Chapter 7

Benders of Our Lives

Chapter 7

By Iroh's Tea Shoppe Girls

Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, who we are not.

"Oh my," Zhao said with a cruel chuckle as one of his men whispered something into his ear.

Zuko rolled his eyes; everything about the Commander sickened him now.

"What now?" Iroh asked. "More perverted slaps in the face to royal family?"

"Oh no," Zhao said. "I don't bring you half as much disrespect as your own nephew does. Letting the Avatar go? How shameful. I told Ursa she should've left Zuko out by the side of the road…"

Zuko's face turned red, he was so infuriated that he could hardly think, he began plotting Zhao's destruction when..

"That's it Zhao," the dragon of the west said. "I challenge you to an Agni Kai."

-.-.-.-.-

It was dinner time at the Bei Fong Estate when Lao finally returned home extremely drunk.

Lady Bei Fong knew that her husband was going to return to that shady bar after dinner. Just how he spoke told her as much. She couldn't take it anymore, even though it was during dinner, even though their only child was there.

"So you plan on going back to that woman after dinner?" Lady Bei Fong yelled.

"Jian, calm down," Lao said to his wife, looking nervously at their blind daughter, who was eating as if nothing was happening.

"Calm down?!" Lady Bei Fong retorted. "So we can pretend everything is well and we are all happy?!"

Lao sighed; there was no talking to his wife whenever she got like this. He decided that his best course of action was to retreat to the tavern from whence he came.

Lady Bei Fong was incensed that her husband dare walk out when they were having a most important family discussion. She stormed off to their bedroom and locked the door. Lao was going to have to find somewhere else to sleep.

"Where's my favorite little princess?" a cheerful old voice rang out.

"I'm in the dining room grandpa," Toph relied. She was still working on finishing her meal.

The old man knew his son's lavish house which he had paid for well, and found the dinning room without much difficulty.

"How's my favorite little girl doing?" the old man asked.

"Just peachy," Toph said sarcastically. "Want dinner?"

"No thanks," the old man asked. "Say Toph, where are your parents?"

"The usual," Toph said rolling her unseeing eyes.

"Oh," Toph's grandfather said. He was disappointed, he had hoped that the money he gave his son would bring him happiness, but it never seemed to work out like he had planned.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Aang had been gone for hours. Katara didn't have time to worry about that. She was already too busy worrying about her unconscious brother, who she couldn't wake. It was like he was in a coma or something, and that scared her.

The lemur hung around, eating the peaches he had thrown at Sokka Katara, trying to distract herself from her worries named the lemur "Momo," which means "peach."

All of a sudden Sokka awoke from his coma.

"Praise be to the Lemurs!" Sokka exclaimed as he sat up, his eyes wide.

Looking around he spotted Momo and began to praise Momo. You see, during his coma Sokka had finally realize what he must do in life – teach the ways of his new found religion, a religion based off the flying lemur.

Shortly after Sokka woke up a large blue light was seen in the sky. Sokka saw the light and said, "You are truly a god!" as he looked at Momo thinking the lemur had something to do with it.

Katara grimaced as she realized her brother was insane. It was time to put an end to the foolishness,"We need to find Aang and get out of here."

Katara followed the light and found Aang in the Avatar state. She couldn't believe her bad luck. Her brother had gone insane and Aang was glowing blue and not responding to anything she said.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Uncle, I wanted to challenge Zhao to an Agni-kai," Zuko said frowning. He was disappointed that his uncle took that opportunity away from him.

"Well, if you did I'm sure you would have won," Iroh smiled as he forgot to tell his nephew that he was wearing Lu Tens clothes.

"It's not the same, I didn't get the chance to prove myself," Zuko said, "But we have more important matters on our hands. Who let Zhao find out what really happened?"

Iroh and Zuko reached their ship and expressed their disappointment to the crew about failure to keep the secret. The entire crew pointed out one of the soldiers as the culprit that told the truth about what happened. The soldier even admitted it himself and said that they should dismiss him.

"Get off my ship" Zuko yelled.

The soldier was quite happy to get off Zuko's ship. It wasn't that he hated Zuko, but he had a problem with Iroh. The old general scared the crap out of him and it was painful to listen to the old man singing voice on music night.


	8. Chapter 8

Benders of Our Lives

Chapter 8

By: Iroh Tea Shoppe Girls

Disclaimer: We don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Yet.

He had been defeated. Zhao sighed. It wasn't really like him to mope around after losing, but he had really expected to have been able to goad Zuko into the Angi Kai and defeat him. That was why he had those pictures of Azula to begin with, after all.

Zhao's interests shifted to finding the Avatar. If he couldn't directly defeat Zuko, he'd outdo the young prince. From the intelligence his soldiers gathered, even weak Zuko would have been able to handle the Avatar, if he had been better prepared.

The admiral pulled out a map from his desk and pondered what the best strategy would be. The Fire Nation hadn't faced an Airbender in about a hundred years, so it wasn't common knowledge anymore. At least he was going to be able to make good use of his artistic ability, drawing Xs and lines on the map recording the Avatar's movements.

-.-.-.-.-

The cabbage merchant turned around, his face warped in an angered frown. You could almost see smoke coming out of his ear. He had never heard anything so offensive in his life, the woman accused him of overcharging. Did she not understand that cabbages did not just fall out of the sky?!

He took a deep breath, letting go of the woman's comment. He figured that it wasn't the worst thing ever. At least there weren't any kids running around, knocking over his cart, destroying his merchandise. So what if sales were slow today, they'd probably pick up tomorrow. Just like the moons waxes and wanes each month, so do cabbage sales increase and decrease.

-.-.-.-.-

"I have news, my lord," said a soldier. He was one of Zhao's men

Fire Lord Ozai looked at the man, "What is it?"

"The Avatar has returned," the man said. He tried his best to look professional and not like a deer-rabbit caught in headlights. Every soldier hated reporting to Ozai, which is why most commanders used it as punishment. "It seems your son has come across him."

"The Fire Sages informed me of the Avatar's return yesterday," Fire Lord Ozai growled, he wasn't happy that the soldier mentioned his disowned child. "I don't have a son. I only have one child, a daughter, Azula. "

"But, my lord, you had a son, named Zuko," The man said quickly. He was so nervous he had forgotten to think before speaking.

"Leave my sight at once!" Ozai barked. He didn't want to hear anymore bad news. He just wanted to forget about his son that he had sent on a fool's errand.

-.-.-.-.-

Katara noticed Aang stirring. She approached him and asked, "How are you feeling? What happened?"

Aang sat for a moment, and reflected on what had happened. He had found the remains of his mentor Monk Gyatso and entered the Avatar state. Logically it made no sense for him to be that upset, it wasn't if it would've been reasonable to expect Monk Gyatso to still be alive, it had been a hundred years, and the good monk was old to begin with.

"I'll explain later," Aang stated, his mind wondering to his sight-seeing goals. "We should make a stop, and I'm hungry."

"Good idea," Sokka said as he steered Appa towards the closest town.

Aang was happy that he got his way. He wanted to be the one stearing Appa, and the pit stop was the the perfect excuse to get Sokka to give up the reigns. And so the gang was off to go Koi-Elephant riding.

-.-.-.-.-

Azula was surprised. She didn't really surprise easily, but then again, she didn't get many letters from her older brother. In fact, this was the first she had ever gotten, and this was after he had been gone for two years. She wasn't sure if she should even bother opening it, it was probably just pleas for help, or wimpy excuses for failure.

But then her good friend Mai showed up.

"Who is that from?" Mai asked, tilting her head sideways to see if the seal was the one she thought it was.

"A letter from Zuko," Azula stated, in a bored voice, as if he mailed her everyday. She looked at her friend to see the other girl's reaction.

"I wish I would get mail from Zuko," Mai bemoaned, causing Azula to frown sternly. "What is it about?"

"Does it look open?" the princess snapped, pushing the unbroken seal towards her friend's face. "How should I know?"

That didn't stop Mai from asking questions. All questions about Zuko and how he's been and things like that. Azula didn't know, nor did she care. After about 10 minutes of that Azula was officially bored, and broke open the letter and began reading it, ignoring her friend.

Dear Azula,

I have an urgent message of the utmost importance. After my recent sortie with the Avatar, I had a chance to visit Commander Zhao. He showed me several pictures of you, some done by the palace artists, others by less talented fellows.

This is hard for me to explain, as you, my beautiful sister, are still in your youth, a maiden of wonderful innocence. It is a pity that I should have to bear such horrific news to you.

While some of the pictures the commander showed me; bear a pleasant likeness to you, my favorite younger sister, others are not befitting of a Fire Nation princess or any noble woman. I must warn you that the worst of them was done by Command Zhao, who is lacking in character and virtue.

To restore your honor, our esteemed Uncle Iroh challenged Commander Zhao to an Agni Kai and defeated him. If Commander Zhao ever gives you any trouble in the future, be sure to let either uncle or I know, and we shall protect you.

Sincerely,

Your Brother,

Zuko

Mai sighed, after hearing the contents of the letter. She had hoped that Zuko would've at least mentioned her in passing. But she felt worse for her friend. It was dishonorable for such pictures of her to exist.

Azula rolled her eyes when Mai was looking at the floor. Her brother had clearly just lost his mind. Then another letter arrived. This one bore the seal of her Uncle Iroh. She silently opened it and read it. It informed her of the same problem with Zhao that Zuko's did. Apparently Zhao was confused about his place, the princess realized with a sadistic smirk. That would have to be fixed.

-.-.-.-.-

Lao was relaxing at the tavern drinking his favorite drink. He didn't have a care in the world. The earthbending teacher was hitting on the ugly waitress, he had his tea, all was right with the world.

Then Lao's father entered the tavern.

"Son, we need to talk," Lao's father said. "About your problem."

Lao was listening but didn't care, he didn't give his father eye contact.

"It's really affecting your family."

"I see that you take Jian's side on the matter," Lao grumbled, his father had hit a nerve.

"No, it's not about Jian- your problem is affecting. Toph," the old man said, with warmth in his voice. "She seems to think it's normal behavior for a man to abandon his family to go out drinking every night. And I think you need to seek some help to resolve this."

"Toph's knows?" Lao asked, frowning. "I thought, she wouldn't know. I mean, I don't talk about it."

"Yes, well, I know someone in Ba Sing Se that could help you," Toph's grandfather said. "I think you should resolve this, for your family's sake and for the sake of our family business."

Lao sighed, and nodded sadly. He didn't want to destroy his family, so he packed his bags and went to Ba Sing Se.

-.-.-.-

NEXT time on Benders of Our Lives:

Sokka begins to write the Scripture of the Momo, Katara gets in over her head, and Aang discovers that having fangirls can be a fun experience.

PLUS -

How does rehab go for Mr. Bei Fong? What will his rebellious wife do now that he's away? What's up with that ugly waitress? Will Iroh's heart ever mend from the loss of his son?


End file.
